Premiering a 4K restoration of his debut feature Cronos at Park City’s Ray Theatre, an ever-lively Guillermo del Toro discussed his take on the vampire mythology, siding with the outsiders via the horror genre, and assembling the imminent, extended cut of Frankenstein.

Originally playing at Sundance in 1994, Cronos screened this year as part of the Park City Legacy series, a program designed to celebrate the festival’s history in Utah before its move next year to Boulder, Colorado. The Gothic indie film, a reworking of the vampire myth, had already won the Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival the previous year, but as Del Toro told the 500-something crowd at the Ray Theatre, he credits the response at Sundance with the film’s greater success and the momentum that drove forward his career.

While Del Toro unpacked his inspirations behind his own brand of Mexican vampire story, highlighting his interest in the myth as an addiction metaphor, the conversation inevitably steered towards his most recent film, which recently secured 9 Oscar nominations. The filmmaker also announced, somewhat casually, that he will releasing a new cut of Frankenstein titled ‘All the Parts Stitched Together’. “It’s going to be a lot longer for people that are loyal and love the movie, which is, it turns out, a good number of people,” he said. It remains to be seen in what capacity the new extended edition will be released, but one can speculate it will likely be available on a physical media release, which Del Toro promised for the film.

The director also reflected on the power of horror cinema in light of the political unrest in America and across the globe. “Horror is certainly political,” he argued. “If horror wants to destroy the monster, it’s on the side of the fucking winners. If horror tells you to understand the monster, it’s on the side of the outsiders. That’s political.” He later elaborated: “We are storytelling animals. We are right now in a world that is telling us the wrong stories constantly and half-fragmented truths. It’s a very dangerous moment, precisely for narrative reasons.”

Del Toro has previously stated that Frankenstein marks a sort of end to a journey begun by Cronos, with the clear parallels between the two films lying in their Gothic stylings and religious themes. At the Ray Theatre, he mused: “When I see that guy [who made Cronos], and I see the guy that did Frankenstein, you know what, the tools are a little better, the experience—but it’s the same guy. And I like that.”